A military spouse's take on blooming where you are planted. I continue to pretend I am living on my dream farm while in reality, I live on a military base, gardening in a plot alongside a Navy flightline, with half of my homesteading supplies perpetually packed in boxes and have a habit of being overly involved in every community we live in. I'm a busy mom to 2 boys and a spouse to a Navy sailor soon nearing retirement. I love this chaotic life wouldn't trade it for anything!

right now

May 10, 2011

Peas!

Only a few so far, and they aren't really ready yet, but I stole a few anyways.

For stir fry! I am also getting down to the end of my frozen veggies from last season, so I think I'm starting to get how much we need to put away for our family. I had plenty of peppers and beans, but definitely need more tomato sauce this year.

I had to do a little wildlife control on the front porch. Despite my best bamboo skewer efforts, the darn sparrows are building nests in my newly planted baskets. Luckily they were caught just as they were starting to build - they had just pushed my skewers out of the way, LOL!

More skewers, and we are back in business

I had to break out the big guns for the darn mahogany wasps. They are huge, I hate them and their sting packs quite a punch. I do everything I can for all the bees, but these guys have got to go, they always build their nests right over the front door and in the kids' fort. They are the only guys who get the foam spa treatment around here :)

I spent the better part of the day in the 2nd grade science classroom again, this age group is hilarious. Today was the first time I had the "yuck" reaction to the herbs. We had all kinds of herbs out for them to sniff and all we heard was "yuck" and "ewww"! The first kid said it and then of course everyone else followed suit :) The school I was in today has turned their little courtyard into a butterfly and bird habitat and are going to plant vegetables too this year. When I asked what was going in to the little bed I was standing next to (about 2 x 2) I was told squash, LOL! Guess those kids will get some entomology lessons too!

12 comments:

I wonder if that foam "spa treatment" works for pesky neighbors too? LOL. Erin, you are too funny-how you come up with this stuff I have NO idea.Love the skewers in the planters idea. I've never had a bird try and nest in a flower basket, but have had cat problems---if you know what I mean.

I can't believe how fast your garden is growing. Peas already when we are just starting to plant.We have a wasp problem too. We hang up those fake paper wasp nest things in the spots we don't want the wasps to make their nests. They work really well. The wasps think another wasp colony is living there and move on. We also have a couple of wasp traps that we fill with pop or beer. They fly in can't get out and fall in the liquid and drown. Now if we could just find a solution to get rid of the black widow spiders. Oh how I hate those things! shudder!

Sue, wouldn't that be cool? Bad neighbor spray that shoots up to 100 yards without leaving the safety of the porch LOL. I think what has happened is that my kids took all my brain cells upon their delivery, and now I lack any kind of "governor" that keeps me from trying ridiculous stuff LOL

Sparkless, I admit it seems like just yesterday when I was planting the seeds and seedlings. Temps have been wonderful, low 70's all week and perfect for working outside, it's making me nervous for the payback 95 degrees and skeeters that I know are coming! I have seen the traps, but never the fake nests, that's cool! I'll have to look into that.

It is now 9:42 p.m. I have just drained a glass of wine and I am starving. (Bare bones dinner tonight because I'm trying to get back on the straight and narrow track of limiting over-needed food intake. Yeah, I know I shouldn't have had the glass of wine . . . but it tasted sooo good.) Now I WANT A BIG PLATE OF THAT STIR FRY you pictured. And I WANT IT NOW!!

Alison, I love peas, but they seem to take soooo long! Probably because they are just starting to flower at the same time that I need that bed space back for my other stuff LOL!

Mama Pea, was it red wine? If so, don't feel badly, ONE glass is good for you, haha the problem arises when you find yourself with an empty bottle after having "just one" LOL. I could have fed you all, I don't seem to be able to make that stuff in small quantities :)

Kelly, I never have enough peas to preserve other than a few bags, sometimes I think I need to grow an acre of those. I'm hoping to get a bit more volume this year since I'm doing the edible pod instead of shelling.

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WHAT'S MY STORY?

Welcome! I'm a native Minnesota girl, Mom, Navy Veteran as well as a Navy spouse for the past 15 years. I am also a Certified Master Gardener that got the rug pulled out from under me 2 years ago... we transferred from a Virginia home with a huge garden into government quarters with a concrete back yard at our current duty station. Even when I can't garden, I'm dreaming of it. When I'm not getting dirty in the garden, I quilt, organize things, make lists, make more lists, go sailing and volunteer with the high school sailing team my kids are on. Only a couple more years until military retirement, we need a plan!

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Why the blog name?

Military life likes to throw wrenches into plans. Too many years of thinking "I'll start a garden someday"… someday with a bigger house, a nicer yard, climate, etc, etc - I just decided to DO IT and and worry about the logistics later! We are living the oxymoron of homesteading for the mobile military family and pulling it off the best we can. Follow our adventures as we carry our homestead wherever we go!